Review: Taron Egerton Shines While The Rest Of The Pieces Don’t Quite Fit In ‘Tetris’

Apr 1

TETRIS (2023)

Taron Egerton is sublime in an overall half-baked Tetris, a film that retells a fascinating true story without much flare.

Back in 1988, Henk Rogers (Egerton) wanted to bring TETRIS to the marketplace in the United States and elsewhere, but he had to risk his life and put those around him in danger to wrestle a deal from the Soviet Union. Egerton is damn near perfect in his role, as is usually the case with him. He brings to life a truly wild story with energy and precision that the rest of the film is sadly lacking. Though it is never not interesting, Tetris boils down to a prolonged negotiation with bad actors on one side and life-threatening altercations mixed within. The internet problem is that the average viewer, perhaps not familiar with the realities of the world at the time, won’t find much of an explanation here. It’s “American businessman = good, Soviet goons = bad.” Taken at face value, it makes for an entertaining film, but it could have found itself in much better cinematic company had it gone a bit deeper.

The rest of the cast is rather good, as well, with Nikita Efremov as the game’s creator and Toby Jones as a man fighting for the rights on behalf of a larger corporation; they do their best throughout as the film becomes messier in the third act. Missing from a lot of it is the game itself, briefly shown in fun moments yet buried beneath the story. The Nintendo Gameboy was even included at a point and was a nostalgic inclusion that never was seen again. Those decisions, as well as cinematography and direction that was simply fine and unremarkable gives Tetris more of a television “movie of the week’ feel and leaves money on the table.

Tetris is now streaming on Apple TV+.